Ion Mobility Sensors (IMS)

breath analysis for health monitoring mercaptan sensors for natural gas monitoring and leak detection

ppb or better detection Information rich data Simultaneously measure (+) and (-) ions High degree of selectivity Low power Small size Facilitates remote / transportable systems Field updatable target portfolio Compatible with front-end technologies

Applied Nanotech, Inc. is developing applications using the Ion Mobility Sensor (IMS) platform. IMS has many applications in trace chemical sensing and analysis. An example of IMS is the detection of explosive materials at airport security checkpoints. IMS is ideal where high sensitivity (ppb range) and high selectivity (low false positives) are required. IMS can be used for a broad range of applications. ANI is currently developing applications of Differential Mobility Spectroscopy (DMS), one of a family of IMS approaches.

ANI is improving on the DMS and IMS technology by developing non-radioactive gas ionization sources to replace radioactive isotopes that are currently used in these tools. By eliminating the radioactive isotopes, ion mobility becomes much more user friendly and lowers the cost of ownership of the tool. IMS and DMS can easily be coupled with other analytical approaches to increase the breadth of applications. DMS has the added advantage of providing richer information in a handheld format.